ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 732, 7 August 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

At the latest dates all was quiet in Mexico. The revolution had been suppressed on 'the northern frontier, but Carbajal had been endeavouring to assemble some followers at Brownsville, on the bank of the Rio Bravo ; this proceeding was, however, put a stop to by the interference of the authorities. On the 13th of January Vera Cruz was visited by a most violent norther, such as had not been known there for many years ; of 22 ships that were in the port, 14 were driven ashore from their anchors and lost. Only thirteen lives, however, were lost, but goods to a large amount were destroyed, and the Mexican Government lost by this disaster duties to the amount of 300,000d015., and the bondholders their amount of the same. Public meetings were being held throughout the island of Jamaica to appeal to the British Government on the seriou3 question of protection to the West India colonies ; at a meeting held at St. George, a declaration had been agreed to describing the deplorable condition of the country, and calling on the British Government to rescue the island. The declaration was ordered to be printecf in the English journals and 500 copies of each of the Kingston papers were to be sent to the Protectionist members of Parliament. Several sugar and coffee properties were on the eve of abandonment in consequence of the inability of the proprietors to continue their cultivation for want of means. The cholera was still lingering in some districts of the island of Jamaica, and the small pox was committing sad ravages in some parts. H. M. Ship North Star, Commander Pullen, had been ordered to Deptford to take in her stores and provisions for the Arctic regions.

America. — M. Kos'suth was at Louisville, where a concert was to be given for his benefit. A meeting was held at New York on the sth March to nominate Mr. Webster for the Presidency. Two cotton factories bad been, destroyed by fire in the neighbourhood of Providence.

Canterbury* Association. — On Thursday, a deputation consisting of Mr. Adderley, Mr., Sewell, Mr. M'Geachy, and Mr. E. G. Wakefield, had an interview with Sir John Pakingtoh, at the Colonial-office. The Great Sea Serpent Caught at Last. ~ — The New York Tribune publishes a long letter from Charles Seabury, master of the whale-ship Monongahela, giving an, account of the capture of the sea serpent, in latitude 3 deg. 10 mm. S., and longitude 121 deg. 50 mm. W., on the 13th' of January last. After describing the various manoeuvres executed to kill and catch the monster hitherto deemed fabulous, the captain thus proceeds with his narratives : — While we were at work he gradually rose to the surface, and around him floated what I took to be pieces of his" lungs, which we had cut with our lances. To make our work sure we continued to lance, eagerly seeking for his life, when he drew himself up and we pulled away, and then witnessed the terrific dying struggles of the monster, None of the crew who witnessed that terrible scene will ever forget it ; the evolutions of the body were rapid as lightning, seeming like the revolving of a thousand enormous black wheels. The tail and head would occasionally appear in the surging bloody foam, and a sound was heard, so dead, unearthly, and expressive of acute agony, that a thrill of horror ran through our veins. The convulsive efforts lasted^ ten or fifteen minutes, when they suddenly stopped ; the head was partly raised —it fell —^ the body partly turned, and _ lay -still: I took off my hat, and nine terrific cheers broke simultaneously from our throats. Our prey was dead. Luckily he floated buoyant, and we' took him alongside, and while doing so he turned over, lying belly up. Every eye beamed with joy as we looked at him over the rail, and the crew again cheered vociferously, and. I joined them. . We now held a consultation as to what we should do, and I requested all hands to offer tkeir opinions. After a short talk all of us felt convinced that it would be impossible to get him into' port, and then we concluded to try and -save his skin, head, and bones, if possible. In

the next place I requested a Scotchman, who could draw tolerably well, to take a sketch of him as he ky, and the "mate to measure him. It was now quite cilm and we could work to advantage. As~l am preparing a minute description .of the serpent, I will merely give you a few general points. It was a male ; the length 103 feet 7 inches-; 19 feetl inch round the neck ; 24 feet 6 inches round the shoulders ; and the largest part of the body, which appeared somewhat distended, 49 feet 4 inches. The head was long and flat, with ridges ; the bones of the lower jaw separate ; the tongue had. its end like the head of a heart. The tail ran nearly to-a point, on the end of which was a flat firm cartilage. The hack was black, turning brown on the sides ; then yellow, and . on the centre of the belly a narrow white streak fwo-thirds of its length; there were also scattered over the body dark spots. On examining the skin, we found, to our surprise, that the body was covered with blubber like that of a whale, but it was only four inches thick. The oil was clear as water, and burned nearly as fast as spirits of turpentine. We cut the snake up, but found great difficult} 1 -; and hadto " flense " him ; the body would not roll, and the blubber was so very elastic, that, when stretched 20 f£et by the blocks it would, when cut off, shrink to five or six feet. We took in the head, a frightful object, and are endeavouring to preserve it with salt. We have saved all the bones, which the .men^ have, not done cleaning yet. In cutting open the snake we found pieces of. squid and a large black fish, tHe flesh of which dropped' from the bones. One of the serpent's lungs was three feet longer than the other. T should have observed that there were ninetyfour teeth in his jaws, very sharp, all pointing backward, and as large as one's thumb at the gum, but deeply and firmly set. We found it had two spoutholes or spiracles, so it must breathe like a whale ; it also had four swimming paws, or imitations of paws, for they were like hard loose flesh. • The joints of the back were loose, and it seemed as if, when it was swimming, that it moved two ribs and a joint at a time, almost like feet. The muscular movement ot the serpent after it was dead made the body look as if it were encircled by longitudinal ridges. We were nearly three days in getting the bones in, but they are now nearly clean, and are very porous and dark coloured. The heart I was able to preserve in liquor, and one of the eyes ; but' the head, notwithstanding it is cool, begins to emit an offensive odour, but I am so near the coast now that I shall hold on to it as it is, unless it is likely to breed a distemper. Every man in the ship participates in my anxiety. - The intolerence of the Swedish Church laws, by which Lutheranism is pinned to the earth a helpless slave in the hands of civil power, while the laity sinks into the serfs of the po-lice-church, has, during the last ten years, caused the emigration of thousands of the ' pietist' peasantry of the northern provinces — a severe loss to a country like Sweden. This movement is extending to the south of Sweden, and a large emigration to America will commence next summer from Skane. Meanwhile the Swedish Church is being rapidly undermined by heathenism and democracy, King Oscar having taken no steps hitherto for freedom of conscience. Expedition "to Central Africa. — The friends of this expedition will be glad to learn that supplies have been sent out to enable the travellers to undertake the important part of the journey from Bornou to the shores of the Indian Ocean. Lord Palmerston had liberally granted a further sum of £800 for the mission, after having received the interesting account of Dr. Barth's journey to Adamowa, and of Dr. Overweg's exploration of Lake Tsad and the Biddunia Islands. Instructions have been forw-arded, too, by the Foreign-office to Captain Homerton, the British agent at Zanzebar, to supply all the wants of the travellers as soon as they shall make their appearance on the coast. Furthermore, a request of Dr. Overweg, for a supply of certain English goods, has been complied with, -and a sum of £65 assigned for that purpose by the Foreign office. The goods have already been carefully purchased, in accordance with the specific list sent home by Dr. Overweg, and are now on their way to Africa.The Aberdeen Clipper Lord Haddo. — • The performance of this vessel since she left England on her last voyage is worthy of notice in these day 3 when speed is so much vaunted, and when our American opponents think they have so far outstripped us in this quality with their ships. The Lord Haddo sailed from D--al on the 31st of March, 1851, for the Cape of Good Hope with a full cargo, which "she discharged there, and' loaded another for Mauritius, reaching that island in 17 days from the Cape, discharj^d and ballasted for Madras, making the passage in 21 days, loa-led a portion of her return cargo there and the ba'ance at Pondicherry and Tranquebar, on the Coromaudel coast, accomplished the voyage back to Mauritius in 30 days, discharged her cargo there and reloaded another for Greenock, where she arrived on the 3d inst., having completed the whole round (during which she discharged and loaded three full cargoes) in eleven months and three days — a performance we would suppose difficult to be surpassed, it ever equalled, by any Yankee clipper afloat. The Emperor of Russia and the French President. — The Paris correspondent of the Times mentions that a note has been transmitted from the Emperor Nicholas to the President, which has caused no Small uneasiness to. the latter. The following is, according to the correspondent of our contemporary, the substance of the note :—": — " It appears certain that the Emperor Nicholas has seen with a desp feeling of dissatisfaction, certain decrees 'that emanated from the President of the Republic soon after - the publication of the result of the vote of December the 20th and 21st — the act which substitutes the Imperial eagle for the Gallic cock on the standards of the Republic — that which establishes the effigy of the President on the coinage — and, finally, that which transfers the Presidential residence from the Elys-ee to the Tuilleries. [It is added, that the re-establishrm nt of the Imperial Constitution of" the Year VI II. was also received by the" Emperor with pretty much the same feehug. His Majesty paw in these successive acts, more or less sigi.ificanr, preliminaries of the pure ntid simple le-esta-

blishment of another Imperial era, to which nothing, not even the pretension of founding a dynasty, war wanting. Inasmuch as the coup d'dtat was regarded by him as the death-blow to the Republican form of Government in France, there is little doubt it met with his approval and his sympathy. He regarded it as one great step towards the restoration of monarchy ; and until that restoration became possible, the establishv rnent of an authority on the origjn of which no discussion was likely to be permitted; but he did not approve of the author of that coup d' tiat doing any thing in the character of tempo • rary Chief of the French Government. In fact, he considered the Government of Louis Napoleon as essentially provisional — good enough to last for a certain period ; but he refused to recognize it in any other title, or any other character." " .Novel and Destructive Rifle. —An American of the name of Jones has invented a rifle which fires 25 distinct shots with one loading. —The rifle has the appearance of the'ordmary double-barrelled gun, with the exception that the barrels are placed one above' the other, and the lower barrel is rather shorter than the upper. In the lower barrel are placed 25 bullets of a conical shape, each about an inch in length. The upper part of these bullets is charged with powder, and by a slight mavement of a small leever, tbpy are brought into the upper barrel one after the other, as the previous one is discharged from it. In the stock -Jtbere is a small box for holding a number of detonating pills, quite on the homcepathrc principal, which one by one fall under the hara- * mer of the trigger, and do the duty of the ordinary copper caps. Oa - Monday evening the operator discharged his gun the 24 times in about a minute, and said that he could load and reload his gun and fire it 125 times in less than five minutes. The gun is under the consideration of Board of Ordinance. — Morning Chronicle. A Daring and Gallant Act. — We have been favoured with an account of the gallant conduct and generous devotedness to a messmate's /ate, which still distinguishes, as it ever distinguished; fhe British Navy. From a full report oi tbe circumstances, it appears that, on the sth instant, on board the Trafalgar, 120, Captain -GreviUe, when going very fast through the' water, and with a heavy sea running, a naval cadet, of tbe name of Sheepshanks, fell from the stern gallery. Mr. Skead, second master, who happened to be in tbe gun-roora at the time, hearing the cry of " A man overboard !" without hesitation, leaped from the gun-room port with a chair in hand, and immediately swam in the direction of his drowning shipmate. His intention was, however, anticipated by Mr. Lambe, a midshipman of tbe ship, who sprang into the sea from the poop, a height of some 40 feet. A boat was lowered, but, in the mean time, the two gallant young men had reached their messmate, and succeeded in keeping him afloat till a more effectual aid had reached them. Mr. Skead was taken on board in a very exhausted state, but we are happy to say that no lives were lost — Herald. The Successor to the President. — It is known that the President of the French Republic has the intention of depositing with the Senate, with all due forms of solemnity, a sealed paper with the name of the person whom he would desire to recommend as his successor. It is much doubted whether any one has as yet been selected," and as his thoughts have recently turned towards a matrimonial condition, it is not unlikely that be hopes he shall be enabled to fix on some name still closer in relation with himself than any other. However this may be, it is a fact that the curiosity of certain parties, more than ordinarily interested in the matter, has of late been much excited. Amongst these is Prince Jerome, ex- king of Westphalia, and now President of the Senate. No one is more familiar with tbe mental calibre of the ex-King than his nephew ; and it has consequently been remarked with .surprise that for some weeks' past the influence of the uncle has made advances in tbe more intimate councils oftheElysee. Tbe President is perhaps flattered that he has still an uncle living who has been a King ; and that venerable relative is no less pleased at witnessing in his old age the position to which that nephew, not long since a captive, or an exile, has attained. It will not be supposed that Jerome has any thoughts about his own promotion to such a post; but Jerome has a son,* and his utmost efforts, said to be seconded by his daughter, are directed to having the name of that sdn fill up the blank in the important document in. question. ' New Swiss Question. — A new Swiss question engages public attention in Paris. It appears that the people of Bale, in their carnival frolics, exhibited a still more shocking irreverence for the Prince President of tbe French RepubJic than the burghers of Ghent have done. .A monkey, dressed up in a general's uniform, with a large nose and black mustachio, was paraded through the streets to represent Louis Napoleon, escorted by an immense concourse of people ornamented with asses' ears. These followers "were supposed to be French citizens. The crowd sang republican songs, into which couplets" turning the President into ridicule were introduced for tbe occasion. Some officers of the cavalry in garrison at Huningue proposed to get horsewhips to chastise tbe insolence of the revellers, but they were advised that it would not be prudent, and they refrained. What makes the matter worse is, that the whole affair "was known* and arranged a week beforehand, and the police of Bale abstained from interfering. .Satisfaction has been demanded by the Freuch Government. The Indian Mail Service. — Southampton, March 3. —We understand that in anticipation of an extension or renewal of their contract with the Admiralty for the East India and. China mail service^ the directors of' the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company have made a conditional purchase of the magnificent new iron steam frigate now fitting out in the Thames, and built under the supervision of the company- for his Highness the-Pasha of Egypt. This steamer vis-of 2,500 tons burden, and of 800 horse-power, and it is confidently expected she will prove to be 'one of the fastest steamers in tbe world. It appears that the Pasha of Egypt voluntered to .place this ship at tbe disposals the Peninsular and Oriental Company in case 1 an additional vessel should be required for the mail service, with the understanding that another ship should be constructed by the Peninsular and. Oriental Steam ' Navigation Coinpauy to ~ replace her. ar-

rangernent thus sanctioned by his Highness is indicative of a desire to maintain friendly relations with the Peninsular and Oriental Company, while at the same time it is credible to the enterprise of that great association. The new monster steam ship Himilaya, building for the Peninsular and Oriental Company, i<s*"rapidly progressing, and will be ready for sea towards the close of fhis year. The Himalaya is intended for the Southampton and Alexandria station, and it is confidently expected she will perform the voyage between these ports, a distance of 3,100 miles, u\ a little over eight da.ys. The passage has hitherto occupied from 12| to l 6 days. It is needless to remark that this result will he unparalleled in the annals of ocean steaming, and great interest is manifested in the snccess of the Himalaya, which the directors have constructed with a view of possessing the largest and most powerful steamer in the world. The Himalaya is of iron, and will be 3,50.0 tons burden and 1,200 horse power. The company's steam ship Indus has been sent to Lou Jon from ibis* port to be lengthened and to have new engines of 650 horse power supplied to her, in place of those of 450 horse power already belonging to that steamer. These impovements will make the Indus one of the fastest steamers aflo.at. The new steam ships Chusan and Madras (screw) belonging to the Peninsula and Oriental Company, are expected here shortly, prior to being sent, to India to take up tbeir station upon the East India lines of steam communication maintained by the company. The Peninsular and Oriental Company, it is understood, are now in a position and possess a sufficient number of ships to establish immediately, and without any delay, a semi monthly mail service to and from India and China in case the tenders they have sent in should be accepted by the Admiralty.